Sh*t You May Have Missed While The Cromwell Faced an Identity Crisis


It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the Week (and prior) ending March 10th, 2017.

Hey, all! BigAZMarty here with the news for our favorite place Las Vegas! This is a catch up session as we’ve been dormant for a bit so we’ll just try to capture the more important issues and skip some of the concert/show info as it might be a bit stale when this posts.

1. Caesars is merging and has modified the merger agreement with CACQ to merge at a 1.625 (CZR) to 1 (CACQ) stock amount (read here). This will glue the different structures and some separately held resorts back into the main company as part of the bankruptcy deal. The bankrupt CEOC division (read here) has also arranged their exit funding from bankruptcy. On the flip side of that Caesars is raising the dreaded resort fee read here by $3 a day for LV premier resorts (Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Nobu Hotel and such) and then they raise the lower tier resorts fee by $1 a day (Harrah’s, Bally’s, Flamingo, LINQ and Rio). This with taxes will put it to almost $40 for the higher resorts and $35 for the lower resorts per day on top of the room rate and parking fees. The paid self parking and paid valet should be going into place or started now except for Rio (off strip so no paid self parking) and Planet Hollywood (Miracle Mile mall owners also own the parking garage) but still paid valet at hotel. All I can say is they didn’t think out the Paris valet well, as it was about 45 cars deep on a Friday night and no split between paying and Diamond/Seven Stars free valet so everyone had to wait in the same line….yup…Caesars cost itself about 45 minutes of gaming time due to that per car load.

2. Monte Carlo had a “murky air” lobby and casino event during the storms recently, see local news on the dust that invaded the property during some high winds that happen in Las Vegas especially in wintertime here. You know it’s a slow news period when the local TV news has footage they air of a guy saying “loogies.” Oh well at least Las Vegas doesn’t get these.

3. January was really good for Las Vegas, read Stiffs and Georges article here. So lets see 2 New Years events (regular New Years and Chinese New Years) in same month…surprisingly the Downtown raked it in at a 32% gain vs Strip’s 14% Y-O-Y gain. This will probably also mean a dismal Feb Y-O-Y number as they lose the Chinese New Year and have one less day than last year. LVSun reports as well here.

4. Reminder MGM also has raised their resort fees as well, read via EDGE Vegas link here. Also to note M Resort 5 Star award along with several other restaurants listed in the article as well as a quick mention of the next news item. Actually EDGE Vegas has an updated article covering more and how to convert the $20 sandwich to get Resort Fees waived here.

5. The Cromwell to get even more available food (especially if you are near Drai’s Afterhours) read VegaSeven here. Eat Well indeed, this has been sorely needed for a while since Giada’s is the only restaurant in the place up to now. If I remember Drai’s Afterhours is in the basement, so an elevator ride down to get to it…and a coffee bar!!! I’ve noticed that the espresso machines in the elevator bay lobbies seem to be missing lately and maybe this is why. Hopefully this won’t decrease the Linq Promenade visitation though as that was the default “go to” outside of The Cromwell for good food nearby.

6. Mark from EDGE Vegas also has some March Madness articles for Las Vegasy things to do, read/view here and here.

7. Eater Vegas has the 12 “hot” restaurants in Las Vegas for March 2017, read here. I can personally say the Giordano’s is really good, but you will pay in time for that deep dish goodness (deep dish Chicago’s Favorites selection is a 45 minute bake time for a small, the thin and other options are a 35 minute bake time) plus the wait time for seating is fairly long so expect at least 1.5 to 2 hours in total away from the tables. Oh and while not a big portion the Loaded Potato Fritters are really, really good but to get full effect you have to dip in the ranch (think fully loaded twice baked potatoes with sour creme and chives, but in a tater tot form). If you don’t dip in ranch you lose the sour cream and chives taste. We liked it so much we came back home to our newly opened local one and ordered the thin crispy option, and it reminded us of East Coast thin crunchy, and it was cut in squares.

8. EATER Vegas has the new Sugar Factory American Brasserie opening at Fashion Show Mall, read here. Who better to open it than Flavor Flav!!!!

9. So Heart Attack Grill will NOT be opening back up on the strip at the old Pete Rose Sportsbar/Grill location near Hawaiian Gardens on the strip…so it’s a bit of the Irish for you now as LA’s Rock & Reilly’s will be/is the new occupant. Read EATER Vegas here. Oh and for Michael who is hopefully recovered enough to enjoy it when it opens will be neighbors with the Papaya King opening soon under the Chili’s. UPDATE – Rock & Reilly’s is already open…don’t know the magic involved but my that was quick.

10. The man responsible for hitting an 80 year old woman in the face and then stealing her purse while she was playing a nickel slot at Sunset Station in Henderson is now behind bars, read local CBS coverage here. All I can say is… that is way-way too extreme and in a nicer part of town, I mean Henderson? Really? I told my wife and she says nope not going there again. How he even got out the door of the casino with all those cameras and security on staff, that is a major issue to me as well. In the old days he’d have hit a wall of security within two rows of machines, would have been told to return the purse and apologize and then he’d disappear back into the security hold until the police arrived. I hope they took care of the lady as well as at that age that could be serious.

11. EDGE Vegas also in time for the spring break/St. Paddy’s day celebrations has the March Pool opening dates here. Surprising to me is Bally’s is not on the list for year round operation and is not opening in March….that is an awesome true Las Vegas 13′ deep end pool and you can rent foam floats for that pool as well. Now if they can just give it some much deserved love and clean all the stuff up to make it nice.

12. While not in Las Vegas the former Trump Taj Mahal has been sold from Carl Icahn (managed by the non-LV Tropicana team) to Hard Rock read LVSun here. What is interesting to note is that Carl was trying to sell it with a similar to Showboat covenant of no casino gaming and that seems to not be the case for this sale. If Hard Rock is successful in renovating and bringing back life to the north part of the Atlantic City Boardwalk it could mean some drop off to MGM’s Borgata, Caesars AC’s Caesars Palace, Bally’s Wild Wild West and Harrah’s Marina, as well as Golden Nugget and AC Tropicana.

13. This in from Vital Vegas here, rumor are that Hard Rock Las Vegas may be purchased by the main tribe that now controls the Hard Rock International company. So big buying spree by the Seminole Native American Tribe of Florida in both LV and AC.

14. Interesting new Nevada State law being proposed according to LVSun here. I can see the seedy motels getting hit immediately between the Strat and Downtown, but really this could apply to any Casino Host that gets an escort (for companionship) that has a record in prostitution and could cause major issues for the big resorts as well. Read down in the comments as well as it seems the new owners of the Hooters casino have reverted to the old San Remo method of managing the property, can’t verify this but interesting comments.

15. Las Vegas Advisor is reporting it and I’ve read some twitter and other things on it as well. Red Rock Resorts if true is getting some prime club management (Jesse and Cy Waits) from the former Alon team (and before that XS at Encore) for its Rain Nightclub at The Palms. You can read here.

16. Kats is reporting that the Tropicana Las Vegas showrooms may be getting new shows (Magic for Main Theater, and a Chippendale’s knock off for the Havana Room) from Red Mercury Entertainment here. We wish them well as that main showroom seems to be rather cursed after the Folies closed back in the day.

17. Vital Vegas reports here that Toby Keith’s I love this Bar and Grill at Harrah’s remodel includes expanded Red Solo Cup lighting usage….those look like tall 40 oz.’rs to me.

18. Vital Vegas beat me to the punch as I was filling out my survey right after reading this. Historically speaking Caesar and the Roman Republic were adversaries, when he declared dictator for life the Roman Republic Senate had him killed….so no on that name. Perhaps Caesars can research Julius Caesar’s life a little more and pick a much better name. Funny thing about The Cromwell is that the parking garage is part of the structure and when they redid it rather than building up to add rooms they topped it off with Drai’s pool and club complex. It’s the low amount of rooms that keep it going and exclusive…however if they are having problems filling those rooms already and are looking at renaming it know this, put all the stuff back in you removed recently that were nice to have touches. Stop being so bean-counterish.

19. thE Arena – an eSports arena already open at Downtown’s Neonopolis, read Vital Vegas here. Whew prize pools of $1 Million? That may make the casinos take notice.

20. Are you a lonely male with some some BITCOIN laying around with nothing to do in Las Vegas? Read Vital Vegas here. Somehow I read this and thought something is fishy here…and does law enforcement get involved in cyber coin crime? Say they over charge you….how do you complain legally?

21. Vital Vegas broke this first and added to it here. All Net Arena between Icahn’s Fontainebleau and SLS getting asphalt removed and graded. Further expounding on the story is the behind the scene wrangling over money and lawsuits that had to be settled first, read LVRJ here as well. Personally, I think the land owner is “loaning” it to the LVCA for the heavy construction equipment convention since LVCVA paved the Riviera land. I could be wrong but who would pass up that free heavy equipment use in conjunction with LVCVA?

22. Red Rock/Stations revealing plans for The Palms in the short term (more slots, after Cafe is done the Buffet redo starts and such), read LVRJ here. There are some interesting extras further down, like a 3rd generation Laughlin (Matthew Laughlin) is getting approval for possible future take over in case something happens to the one and only Don Laughlin.

23. In fall of 2018 expect it to be harder to find cheap rooms in Las Vegas especially the closer you get to Las Vegas Speedway (now you know why Boyd bought up Cannery and Aliante). A fall NASCAR weekend add in was announced, read LVRJ here. So, two weekends of all three series of NASCAR racing. Expect Hooters to be full, just saying. The fall race will be part of the last 10 races that make up the Chase for the Cup…perhaps replacing the New Hampshire race.

24. Red Rock Resorts show a 13.4% increase in Net Revenue for the quarter. This beats analyst expectations and probably has something to do with why in #22 they were securing better funding options in the first place. Read LVRJ here. Oh and here for the new social play free app to compete with Caesars, MGM and others.

25. I’ve included some Kats updates on goin’s on in Las Vegas for this week, read LVRJ here. Things like Penn & Teller’s Rio show on hiatus until they stop filming Fool Us. Also of note, Donny and Marie are taking over the holes in the Flamingo schedule now that Olivia Newton-John has finally made it official that she’s ending her Flamingo residency due to calendaring conflicts.

26. Robin c/o LVRJ here has some nice photos from Claire Sinclair’s PinUp final showing at the Stratosphere, read the article as to what her plans are for the future. Yes, there are words there in the article. Read them and if you visit the ClairBNB you might see her around.

27. Interesting article from Robin on Cosplay The Show’s possible strip future and updates at the very bottom on new life for the Indigo Lounge at Bally’s with a new show there. Read here.

28. Robin also covers the BackStreet Boys new residency at Axis at Planet Hollywood. I think there is more media outpouring for this than JLo and Britney combined. See and read here. Doesn’t anyone remember that all these original boy bands were created and managed by a crook?

29. Boy that didn’t take long, Windows Showroom has a replacement already due to Tony Sacca’s death in January. I might see this as Paul Lynde was an absolutely quick and sharp-witted genius and my wife dragged me to 50 Shades The Parody, so she owes me one, read here. Read further down in the article for more tidbits around town (i.e. Kool and the Gang at Tropicana? Yup).

30. Vegaseven has an excellent article on Tribal Gaming and its impact on Las Vegas here. I think it has opened up casino companies to manage Tribal Gaming casino/resorts. The tribe pays for the buildings and such and the casino company manages the promotions, hotel and casino floor for the tribe. Boyd, Penn Gaming, Stations/Red Rock Resorts and Caesars all have a big presence here.

31. MGM on an East Coast buying spree? Adelson may sell Sands Bethlehem to MGM if the price is right or is he? Read Stiffs and Georges here.

32. Stiffs and Georges reported on activities across the US for Boyd, Penn and Pinnacle read here. Interesting that Pinnacle is still looking to acquire properties, you know Alon property is wide open now and Icahn has a partially completed full resort available for purchase in Las Vegas on the Strip, right? Pinnacle-Ameristar casino in Colorado is very nice, so they could bring that brand to Las Vegas.

33. EDGE Vegas has 5 downtown places to get pancakes since DuPar’s is closed. Read here, I would for sure pick Hash House a Go Go at Plaza (if and only if it is as good as the Linq one).

34. Think young Matthew Broderick in War Games with the audio “Would you like to play a game?” Now fast forward to current-day in Miracle Mile shops near Sephora and Cabo Wabo Cantina.. there’s going to be a Robotic Bar, read EATER Vegas here. Now it’s “Would you like to buy a drink?”, figuring Caesars Palace is hosting DefCon and other black hat conferences happen in Las Vegas I can see a possible hack attack for free pours or something worse happening there in the future.

35. Vital Vegas via twitter feed showing new use for the torn down 2 store space, food truck! See it here.

36. Raiders have seemed to resurrect their plans by replacing funding from Sheldon Adelson and Goldman Sachs with Bank of America so maybe it will happen, but, then again, maybe it won’t. The end of March is the owner’s meeting where the rubber hits the road for the NFL Owner vote. Read USA Today here and Washington Post here.

37. And finally from Scientific Games and LVRJ an article here on how the James Bond franchise has authorized Scientific Games to use the spy’s image in casino machines. Hopefully someone covering GGE will get shots of the new machines, I have a perfect place for it (just to hear Sean Connery say Pussy Galore) at Luxor right next to the Austin Powers slot machine….can you imagine it? Pussy Galore bonus…..Oh, Behave!!!! It would be a hoot.

And that’s it for shortened news, and while I might have missed something, I’m sure there is enough reading to give you something to look forward to (or not in the case of more Resort Fees).

So now for our surgically repaired Editor-In-Chief, Michael Movestro!!! Glad to have you back and feeling better Michael!!!!

Thanks, BigAZMarty! 37 items is shortened news? It’s more like an Oreo Double Stuff of news! Hi, folks! Well, I’m glad to be back and I’m all mended up from the surgery. I’ll be talking all about it this Sunday on a very special episode of the Vegas Bright Podcast (and of course, Vegas stuff). Here are the stories we brought you this week:

38. I posted “We’re Back, Baby!” to let the readers know articles were coming back and to thank everyone for the well wishes. Yeah, that’s not really Vegas related, let’s move on.

39. Blonde4ever shared how Boyd’s Young at Heart promotion is now for locals only…but then…an update! Boyd reversed their stance, but we’re waiting for the fine print to change.

40. I shared a story on how The Rio opened its floor to Stadium Baccarat, it’s a fun easy game.

41. Gennadius Shows Us Planet Hollywood’s Renovated Floors, including the new Ultra Hip Room Remodel.

42. BigAZMarty reviews the new Burgundy Room (end of hall version) at Paris Las Vegas.

43. Reader WannaBeRocker has had it with Vegas, the nickel and diming, tight machines, and other various Vegas things.

That’s it for this week, we’ll see you next week!

4 thoughts on “Sh*t You May Have Missed While The Cromwell Faced an Identity Crisis

  1. Whew, that is a bunch of sh*t that I have missed. Glad you are back up and running.
    Why on earth did they remodel Toby Keith’s??? This place is dead as my great Aunt Connie every single time that I have ever walked past it?

    1. My only thought is Toby Keith came by and said there is just not enough of the Red Solo Cup lighting….no seriously there was some reconfiguration of the dance floor and band stage a little while ago so the lighting was probably the last thing (and easiest) to finish up. I have been there and sometimes it’s busy usually weekends late night when the band is going….heck in that timeframe the store next door even has maybe 20 people in it.

  2. Caesars really thinks the NAME is what is wrong with the Cromwell? As long as it’s a good value for my dollar, they could name it the “Jar of Pickles Hotel and Casino” for all I care.

    1. Exactly…but to name it Caesars Republic when Caesars Palace is right across the street and so much grander in size and stature. Just does not sound right….I actually suggested in my survey they look at say the Smithsonian for more historically correct names (i.e. I liked the name of Julius Caesars vacation home…so Caesars Trastevere. But I tend to agree with you about names…if there is no perceived value what will draw in customers right?

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